Not sure how anyone could consider the Beatles to be overrated, and this coming from someone that didn't care for their pre-Rubber Soul stuff. When you have a band that successfully diversified their sound at a crucial point in their career, influenced an entire culture and different genres ranging anywhere from Punk Rock to Proto-Doom.. you know that the band is special. They've mastered the art of structuring tones and harmonies with identifiable lyrics to craft some timeless tunes, and took a chance to experiment with their sound when they easily could've stuck to making contemporary music that would've sold regardless. Almost no one could touch them on consistancy, and this isn't even counting their solo work.

Let me say in my opinion overrated doesn't necessarily mean bad. I love Metallica at their best, Nirvana are a good band and so are Zeppelin. I don't hate the Foo Fighters at all and I respect Tool despite me thinking their fans are obnoxious and overrate everything they do to death.

I've probably left some others off here that deserve to be there. I also cannot conceive how the beatles can be overrated when many genres like progressive rock, psychedelic music and even metal may have never have been around without their influence.

Also lol @ people putting stuff like Lil Wayne and Justin Bieber. You cannot be overrated if you were never rated to begin with.

They changed music more than any other artist, so I doubt they are overrated. Some of you just don't like them, there's a difference.

Nirvana is the most overrated of all time. They had 3 albums and only a few good songs and the media still act like they changed music forever. They weren't even the best band in grudge, yet are frequently called the greatest band of the 90s and since. Seriously a joke.

How about Rick James, bitch? Can 99% of the world name a Rick James song besides Super Freak. I like Super Freak but when you hear that song at first, you're gonna think its MC Hammer.

Then there's Bob Marley. This has more to do with the image. He wouldn't be near as loved and regarded if he didn't smoke pot. I think he's a legend and I like a lot of his songs, but the association with pot and early death definitely overrate him. The latter of which overrates the likes of Nirvana. I think the success of Dave Grohl and Courtney Love elevates Nirvana in my eyes. You can't tell me Cobain didn't have a strong influence on Courtney Love or Dave Grohl. Cobain was only 27, he had plenty to offer.

Musicians dying young plays a pretty big factor in underrating and overrating their work.

I know what The Beatles changed, I respect that, but hey, guess what - I. DO. NOT. CARE. I really like 4-5 songs, and that's about it. The rest is meh. The Beatles were a crafty marketing trick first, everything else was secondary, and the large majority of their influence on music derived from that marketing, not the music itself.